IBT Staff Reporter

A car bomb ripped through a crowded market in southern Iraq on Wednesday, killing at least 32 people, and wounding 70, officials said.

Facebook is letting their 200-plus million users customize their profile URLs starting this weekend, according to a post on Facebook's official blog.

Procter & Gamble Co's incoming chief executive may need to call on his West Point training as he tries to lead the consumer products maker through a time when shoppers are increasingly thrifty.

Myanmar's trial of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will hurt international efforts to help the army-ruled country's recovery from the devastation of Cyclone Nargis, donors said on Wednesday.

Russia has information on North Korean plans to launch a ballistic missile but does not know when it will take place, Interfax news agency quoted a senior Russian military source as saying on Wednesday.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused his election rivals on Wednesday of adopting smear tactics used by Germany's dictator Adolf Hitler and said they could face jail for insulting him.

An Indian air force transport plane crashed near the disputed Chinese border in the remote northeast, killing all 14 on board, officials said on Wednesday.

Russia will reduce the share of U.S. treasuries in its forex reserves, the world's third-largest, a senior central bank official said on Wednesday, driving the dollar broadly lower.

U.S. envoy George Mitchell assured the Palestinians on Wednesday of Washington's commitment to a state of their own, calling its establishment the only viable solution to their conflict with Israel.

Russia will reduce the share of U.S. treasuries in its forex reserves, the world's third-largest, a senior central bank official said on Wednesday, driving the dollar broadly lower.

Home Depot Inc said earnings could be flat this year, rather than falling as it previously forecast, saying the worst of the U.S. housing correction had passed.

A French submarine with advanced sonar equipment was due to begin searching on Wednesday for the flight recorders of an Air France airliner that crashed into the Atlantic last week, the French military said.

Leading Senate Democrats unveiled on Tuesday a plan to reshape U.S. healthcare that calls for sweeping insurance market reforms and prohibits insurers from denying coverage or charging more due to medical history.

Spiking U.S. mortgage rates drove down total home loan applications last week as demand for refinancing shriveled to the lowest level since November, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Wednesday.

The brutal pace of job losses on Wall Street may be slowing, but experts remain cautious about whether this means a quick turnaround is on the way.

More Australian companies are blocking access to social networking websites such as Twitter and Facebook, trying to make employees more productive in a sagging economy, the country's dominant phone company says.

Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Wednesday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 1.3 percent, Dow Jones futures up 1.2 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 1.1 percent.

Citigroup Corp. announced a finalized deal with the U.S. government on Wednesday that could add up to $58 billion in common equity to the company, with chief executive Vikram Pandit saying the move would make the bank among the best capitalized in the world.

Stocks headed for a higher open on Wednesday, as surging prices for oil and other commodities drove a global equities rally and Home Depot raised its outlook.

Never an easy market for premium car makers, Japan has become an even tougher battleground after a green tax incentive introduced in April left all foreign car brands neatly outside the fence.

China will overtake Italy as the second-biggest market behind the United States for iconic sportscar maker Lamborghini within three to five years, the group's chief executive said on Wednesday.

Jerry York, a former board member of General Motors Corp (GMGMQ.PK) and an executive at Chrysler two decades ago, said on Tuesday the bankruptcies for the two automakers were

Stock futures pointed to a sharply higher open on Wednesday, as surging prices for oil and other commodities drove a global equities rally and Home Depot raised its outlook.

Italian car maker Fiat SpA was set to close its takeover of Chrysler on Wednesday in an ambitious move to survive and grow out of one of the worst crises in global auto industry.

Home Depot Inc raised its 2009 profit forecast and stood by its sales expectations on Wednesday ahead of a meeting with analysts and investors, sending its shares up nearly 4 percent.

Top global PC monitor maker TPV Technology on Wednesday said it is developing a low-cost, all-in-one desktop PC optimized for the Internet, in a bid to replicate the success of low-cost portable PCs known as netbooks.

Microsoft's Russia unit can resolve some of the issues raised in an anti-monopoly probe by providing information and will fully comply to resolve the rest of them, the CEO of Microsoft Rus LLC said on Wednesday.

While General Motors filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States, GM's joint venture in China SAIC-GM-Wuling' sales exceeded 100,000 in May, topped among the Chinese car companies' sales in a single month.

Stock futures pointed to opening gains of more than 1 percent on Wednesday, following a rally in global stock markets underpinned by higher commodity and energy prices.